Myriads of designs exist for electrical connectors. Most include a plurality of closely-spaced contacts for connecting to individual conductors of electrical signals. Many of these connector designs have become de jure or de facto standards for different applications. A representative of such a connector is the communications industry-standard Centronic connector, which mounts on printed circuit leads of a circuit board and connects the circuit board to off-board multi-lead cables.
Equipment in which such connectors are typically used must often pass rigorous electrical tests before it can be sold. For example, telecommunications equipment in which the Centronic connector is used to connect to external communications lines must in many countries pass a high-voltage surge test wherein the conductors of the connector must withstand a 1 KV surge signal without arcing (shorting) to adjacent conductors. The connector is designed to pass such foreseen tests.
Unfortunately, some jurisdictions have seen fit to impose more stringent tests over time. For example, some jurisdictions now require the above-mentioned telecommunications equipment to pass a 1.5 KV high-voltage surge test. Such tests were not foreseen and therefore not taken into consideration in the design of the connector, with the consequence that the connector does not pass this test. Of course, one can redesign the connector to pass the test, e.g., by increasing the spacing of the connector's conductors, or one can substitute a different kind of connector that is robust enough to pass the test. But the use of such different, non-standard, connectors would destroy the equipment's compliance with the industry standards and would also require the use of non-standard external telecommunications connectors that would subsequently attach to these non-standard connectors.